Stencil-feeding mechanism.



I .J.HUNEKE; ST E NCIL FEEDING MECHANISM- APPLICATION FILED MAY 26. I916. I 1,281,014. Patented Oct. 8,1918.

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J. HUNEKE. STENCIL FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION F|L ED MAY 26, I916.

Patented Oct. 8, 1918..

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JOHN HUNEKE, OF MELROSE PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO COX MULTI-MAILER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

STENCIL-FEEDING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Oct-8, 1918.

Application filed May 26, 1916. Serial No. 99,962.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that '1, JOHN HUNEKE, a

.ing Mechanism, of which the following is V a speclficatlon.v

This invention relates to a feeding device,

one embodiment of which is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which the feeding device is illustrated in connection with stenciling mechanism for an addressing machine. The object of the invention is to provide a device of the character named which shall be of improved construction and.

efficient in operation, The invention is exemplified in the combination and arrangement of parts ShOVVIlIH the accompanying drawings and described in the following specification, and it is more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawingsFigure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a portion of an addressing machine and illustrating one embodiment of the stencil feeding mechanism; Figs. 2 and 3 are detail perspective views of parts of the feeding mechanism; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a part of an addressing machine showingthe mechanism illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is an end elevational view of the mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 4; Fig. 6 is a perspective showing one form of stencil upon which the invention is adapted to operate.

The addressing machine of which a portion is shown in the accompanying drawings, is one in which the characters are formed by causing ink to be pressed through openings in stencil paper to form characters upon the articles to be addressed. A form of stencil commonly used is shown in Fig.

, 6, in which a frame 10 of cardboard or simiframe.

lar material, is provided with acentral opening 11, one side of the frame being covered witha sheet ofstencil paper 12, which is pasted or otherwise secured to the side of the The paper 12 is, provided with perforations 13 through which the ink is forced to form characters upon the articles 'to be addressed. The stencils are fed along a runway 14 and are brought into position above an inking wheel 15 provided with a plurality of ink rollers 16. The wheel 15 is carried on a shaft 17 which rotates direction by springs, not shown in the drawings, and contact with the under surface of the stencil paper 12 carried on the frames 10. The article to be addressed is held by v mechanism not shown against the upper surface of the paper 12 and ink is thus forced through the openings in the stencil paper to form the characters on the articles.

The stencils 10 are held in a magazine 20 positioned above the runway 14 and hav ing the lower end open to discharge stencils onto the runway. The front wall of the magazine 20 is provided at the lower portion thereof with an outwardly curved plate 21 which extends entirely across the front portion of the magazine and has its lower edge 22 spaced upwardly from the bottom of the runway 14 a distance slightly greater than the thickness of one of the stencils. In this wayan opening is provided beneath the edge 22 of the plate 21 through which the stencils are fed one at a time along the runway. Secured to the frame of the machine at the rear of the magazine 20, is a pair of blocks 23 to which are adj ustably secured plates 24 held in place by screws 25 passing through slots 26 in the plates 24and into the blocks 23. As shown in Fig. 2, the forward ends of the plates 24 are provided with a series of steps or notches 27, and these notches, as shown in Fig. 1, are of proper size to accommodate the rear edges of the stencils 10. By means of these notches, each stencil in the lower portion of themagazine is held in position slightly in advance of the stencil resting immediately upon it. The notches are arranged to conform to the curvature of the front plate 21 so that the forward edge of each stencil will be held in contact with the plate 21 by means of the adjustable stops'24. the stops 24 is for the purpose of permitting the stops to be set for stencils of different lengths.

The stencils are fed forwardly from the magazine by means of a reciprocating slide 28 slidably mounted in the bottom of 'the runway 14 and provided with a downwardly extending pin 29 to which is pivotally secured a itman 80. The rear end of the pitman 30 is pivotally connected with a rocker arm 31 mounted to reciprocate about a fixed The adjustment of 35 rear end of the bar 28 is provided with an attachment 35 having an upwardly anda stencil has been rem'oved,'the next higher.

pivot 32. The arm 31 is operated by a link 33 which is moved intimed relation with the other mechanism of the stenciling machine. The upper surface of the reciprocating bar 28 is provided with a plurality of spring catches 34 which normally project upwardly from the surface of the bar but which are I readily-depressed to lie in a plane with the upper surface of the bar. When the bar 28 is in its rearmost position, one .of the catches 34 will lie directly behind the inner edge of the front portion of the lowermost stencil frame 10. As the bar moves backwardly into this position, the catch 34 will be pi'essed downwardly as it passes beneath the stencil frame and will spring into the position shown in Fig. 1 when ithas passed behind the frame member. When the bar is now moved forwardly it will carry with it the stencil frame, moving it out from'beneath the magazine and forcing it forwardly toward the inkingroller. catches 34 will engage the stencils already moved out of the magazine and feed them along the guideway 14. The plate 22prevents more than a single stencil from passing out of the magazine at one time. 'After rearwardly inclined finger 36. The'finger36 carries on its' front surface a pad of fric-.

tional material 37 such as leather or rubber.

When the bar. 28 is moved into itsextreme forward position, the pad 37 contacts'with the rear edges of the stencil frames 10 in the magazine 20 and thus positively moves all of the stencils forwardly into contact with the plate2l This insures movementof-the stencil next adjacent the one which is carried from the magazine, intoproper position to be contacted duringthe next operation of the?"feeding -bar. -The finger 36 forms an additional important function in that it forces the forward end of the lowermost stencil beneath the downwardly sloping edge of the plate 21, and in this way the forward end of the stencil is'forced downwardly to 'insure'proper positioning of the frame 10 for engagement with the spring 34. Stencils like those illustrated in Fig. 6, have a strong tendency to curl or bend upwardly, due to the fact that the stencil paper 12 contracts in drying after it has been pasted to the frame. This tendency to curl bends the forward ends of the stencils 1O upwardly and in some machines it has heretofore been found necessary to break the stencils across Other spring the middle portion in order to cause them to feed properly from a magazine. When the finger 36 is used, however, in connection with the inclined plate 21., the forward ends of the stencils are positively moveddownwardly. into position to pass beneath the edge 22 of the guard plate, and also, to properly contact with the feeding spring 34. In this way, all difficulty arising from the'upward bending of the front ends of the stencils is'removed. 1 I

Having thus described my inventiom what I claim as new and desire to secure-by Letters Patent'from the United States is:

1. In a feeding device, an upright magazine arranged to hold a plurality offlattened articles resting one upon another, means for extracting-articles one at 'a time through an opening at the bottom of'said magazine, and means movable in th'e' direction of the planes of said articles and in contact therewith for exerting pressure on the edges of the lowermost articles insaid magazine and'in the direction of the planes of, said articles to slide said articles relative to one another to position the. articles preparatory to the extracting operation.

2. In a feeding device for-"flat articles, a magazine having one wall thereof curved outwardly at its lower edge, andmean's movable in the direction of the planes of-the articles in said magazine while in contact with said articles for forcing said articles into contact with the inner surface of said curved wall.-

3. In a feeding device, an upright magazine having one of its'walls curved outward-- ly at its lower edge and spaced upwardly from the floor of said magazine to provide an opening through 'which articles may be extracted one at a time from said magazine, means-movable whlle in contact with the lowermost articles 1n sa1d magazine for forcing said articlesflinto ffixed position with their edges in contact with the inner surface of said-wall to force the forward edges of said articles downwardlytoward said opening and an abutment for holding said articles insai'd fixed position. A

4. In a stencil feeding device, a magazine having the forward wall thereof curved outwardly at its lower, edge and having an opening beneath the lower edgeof said'wall v through which "stencils may ,be extracted from said magaz ne, means for exerting pressure on stencils 1n sa1d magazine by moving in the direction of the planes of said stencils for forcing said stencils into contact with the curved portion of said wall to force the forward edges thereof downwardly toward said opening and means movmeans for extracting stencils from said magazine.

5. In a stencil feeding device an upright able in unison with said pressure exerting magazine having its forward wall curved outwardly at the lower edge thereof and having an opening beneath the lower edge of said Wall through which stencils may be moved from said magazineand a stop device for holding stencils in fixed position in contact with said curved wall;

6. In a stencil feeding device, an upright magazine having the forward wall thereof curved outwardly at its lower edge and having an opening beneath said wall through 7. In a device for feeding stencils eachhav-ing a recess in the lower surface thereof, an upright magazine, means for projecting upwardly into a recess in the lowermost stencil in said magazine and for contactin with the edge of said recess near the forward edge of-said stencil to move said stencil from said magazine,.and means for forcing the forward edges of the stencils in said magazine downwardly into cooperative relation with said contacting means.

8. In a stencil-feeding device, an upright magazine arranged to hold a quantity of stencils. in stacked relation one upon an: other, and having an opening-at one side thereof through which the lowermost stencil in said magazine may be extracted, means for extracting stencils through said opening one at a time, and an inclined surface adjacent said opening for forcing the stencils in said magazine downwardly into contact with said extracting means and means for positively holding said stencils in said downward position.

9. In a stencil feeding device, an upright magazine arranged to hold a plurality of fiattenedarticles in stacked relation one upon another, said magazine having one wall thereof curved outwardly and provided with an opening beneath the lower edge thereof through which stencils may be ex tracted one at a time, means arranged to contact with the lowermost stencil in said magazine to extract said stencil from said magazine through said opening, and means for sliding the stencils in said magazine forwardly against the inner surface of said curved wall to force the forward edges of said stencils downwardly against said extracting means and means for positively holding said stencils in their forward positions.

10. In a stencil feeding device, an upright magazine arranged to hold a plurallty of flattened articles in stacked formation,

means for extracting the lowermost articles one at a time from said magazine, and means for contacting with-the edges of a plurality of the lowermost articles in said magazine at the end of each extracting operation to arrange the articles thus contacted in ofi'set relation with one another and a fixed abutment for holding said articles in said relation.

11. In a stencil feeding device, means for holding a plurality of stencils in stacked relation, means for extracting the stencils one at a time from the bottom of said-stack, and means for moving into and out of contact with the lowermost stencils in said stack to arrange said stencils in offset relation with one another and a plurality of fixed abutments arranged in ofi'set relation with one another for holding said articles against backward movement.

12. In a stencil feeding device an upright magazine, a feeder bar arranged to reciprocate beneath said magazine in contact with the lowermost article therein, saidmagazine having its front wall bent outwardly, and means carried by said bar for contacting with the lowermost articles in said magazine to force said articles into contact with the bent portion of said wall. I

13. In a stencil feeding device, an upright magazine for holdin stencils in stacked formation, the forwar wall of said magazine being curved outwardly and provided with an opening beneath the lower edge thereof through which stencils may be extracted from said magazine, a feeder-bar arranged to reciprocate beneath said magazine to move articles in said magazine one at a time through said 0 ening, and a contact finger carried by sai bar and arranged to move into contact with the rear edges of the lowermost articles in said magazine at each reciprocation of said bar to force said articles into contact with the curved portion of the forward wall'of said magazine.

14. In a stencil feeding device, an u right magazine arranged to hold a stencils in stacked formation, said magazine having it forward wall curved outwardly at the lower portion thereof and provided with an opening beneath itslower edge 'through which stencils may be moved one at a time, a feeder bar arranged to reciprocate beneath said magazine to move .the lowermost stencils one at a-time through said opening, a stop for holdin the lowermost stencils in said magazine in contact with the curved portion of said plate, and a conplurality of formation, a'member arranged for rectilinear reciprocation beneath said stacked articles, and having an inclined surface, means for moving'said member into and out of contact with the edges of a plurality of articles in said stack to arrange said articles in offset relation with one another to facilitate their easyremoval one at a time frornsaid stack, and means for extracting one at a time from said stack the articles this arranged. v '16. In a feeding device, means for holding a pluralityof flattened articles in stacked formation, means for arranging the lower,- most articles in said stack in. ofi'set relation to one another to facilitate their easy removal one at a time from said stack, means for positively'holding the articles in said relation, and means for extracting the articles one at a time from said stack.

17. In a feeding device, means for'holding a plurality of flattened articles in stacked formation, a curved stop, acontact member having a beveled surface, means for.

moving said contact member into engagement with one edge of the articles in said stacked formation for forcing the opposite edge of said articles into engagement with said curved stop to thus arrange said articles in offset relation withone another, and means operable by said contactmember moving means for extracting the articles thus arranged one at a time from said stacked formation.

' curved stop, and means carried byv said reciprocating member for engaging the under surface of. the lowermost article in said stack to remove-said article from said stack. I

19. In a feeding device, means for holding a plurality of flattened articles in stacked formation,a curved stop positioned ad acent the forward edges of the lowermost articles in said stack and having a space beneath said stop through whicharticles may be extracted one at a time from said stack, a contact finger having a beveled surface arranged to be moved into and out of contact with the rear edges ofJthe articles in said stack to' force said articles against said curved stop and thus arrange said articles in offset relation relative to one another to facilitate their easy removal one at a time 1 from said stack, a stop member having shoulders arranged in the rear of said articles for holding said articles in said ofi'set relation and means for extracting'said articlesone at a time through the opening beneath said curved stop.

20. In a stencil feeding device, a maga--' zine having one side thereof curved outwardly at it'slower edge, a stop having offset shoulders thereon arranged in said magazi'ne at the side thereof opposite said curved sidefor holding the lowermost stencils in said magazine in offset relation to one another, and 'means for extracting the stencils from said magazine through an opening beneath said curved stop.

21. In a stencil feeding device, a maga zine having. one wall thereof curved out wardly at its lower edge and adjustable stops and arranged in graduated positions in said magazine at the side thereof opposite said curved wall.

22. In a stencil feeding device, a magazine having one wall thereof curved outwardly at its lower edge andv adjustable stops having a plurality of shoulders arranged in offset relation with one another for contacting with the edges of the stencils in said. magazine to hold said stencils in offset relation with one another, and means for contacting with 'the lowermost stencil in said magazine to extract said stencils one at a time from said magazine.

23. In a stencil feeding device, a magazine having the front wall thereof curved outwardly ,at its lower edge and providing" a space beneath 'said edge through which I stencils may be extracted, a reciprocating feed bar having means for contacting with the lower surface of thelowermost-stencil in. said stack to move said stencil through said opening from said magazine, an inclined contact finger carried by said bar and arranged tobe moved thereby into contact with the lowermost stencils 1n said magazine to move said stencils into offset relation with one another and to force the forward edges of said stencils into contact with the inclined portion of said front wall and with the upper'surface of said feed bar, and 1 an adjustable stop arranged at the rear of .said magazine having a plurality of shoulders thereon arranged in offset relation with one another for holding the stencils in said magazine in the position into which they are moved by said contact finger.

In testimonywhereof I have signed my name to this specification on this 24th day of May, A. D. 1916.

JOHN HUNEKE. 

